Civic Engagement

With a pop­u­la­tion of over 5.8 mil­lion South Asians, our com­mu­ni­ty is one of the most rapid­­ly-increas­ing pop­u­la­tions in the Unit­ed States. As our com­mu­ni­ty grows in size, com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers are engag­ing more active­ly in the civic and polit­i­cal process through and beyond vot­ing, by vocal­iz­ing views on cur­rent issues, par­tic­i­pat­ing in social and polit­i­cal cam­paigns, and becom­ing lead­ers in their local com­mu­ni­ties and orga­ni­za­tions. How­ev­er, many South Asians encounter road­blocks on the path to enact­ing civic change, whether in the forms of vot­er intim­i­da­tion and harass­ment at an elec­tion site, or insuf­fi­cient bilin­gual mate­ri­als and inter­preters to com­pre­hend and chal­lenge pol­i­cy decisions.

In an effort to ensure that South Asians feel empow­ered to par­tic­i­pate in civic move­ments, SAALT sup­ports a vari­ety of com­mu­ni­ty-led cam­paigns across the coun­try, while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly advo­cat­ing with the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment­to demand equi­table access.

SAALT RESOURCES ON VOTING RIGHTS

ALLY ORGANIZATIONS